A study out this week found that sloths are more vulnerable to predators than previously thought.

When they were looking for a sloth which they had radio tagged, the researchers found a tiny spectacled owl had killed and eaten it. Spectacled owls are only 20inches tall – about the size of a large coke bottle. A sloth is twice as big as this and weighs four times as much.

The researchers think that the sloth was killed when it went to the ground to go to the toilet. Sloths normally live in trees where they are camouflaged from predators, but they have to go down to the forest floor every eight days to poo.

“Sloths are relatively large, so one would expect their predators to be limited to harpy eagles and ocelots – a type of big cat,” said Bryson Voirin, a researcher.